HELSINKI, April 3, 2026, 15:01 EEST
Nokia’s U.S.-listed shares closed 6.65% higher at $8.82 on Thursday, while its Helsinki-listed stock ended up 2.88% at 7.35 euros, after the Finnish telecom gear maker disclosed a new multi-year 5G contract with Britain’s Virgin Media O2 on March 31. Nokia Corporation | Nokia
The move matters because Nokia is still trying to show that fresh operator deals and AI-linked network demand can offset years of patchy 5G spending under Chief Executive Justin Hotard. Investors now have two near-term markers: Nokia’s annual meeting on April 9 and its first-quarter results on April 23. Reuters
Virgin Media O2 said it signed new multi-year agreements with Nokia and Ericsson to modernise its radio access network, or RAN, the part of a mobile system that connects phones and other devices to the wider network. The UK operator said the plan will upgrade thousands of sites as it tries to lift capacity, coverage and reliability. Virgin Media O2
Under Nokia’s side of the deal, the company will supply radio and baseband equipment and expand work on automation and AI-led network features. Mark Atkinson, Nokia’s head of RAN, said the group was “delighted” to deepen the partnership, while Virgin Media O2 Chief Technology Officer Jeanie York said the agreement would “accelerate our 5G rollout.” Nokia Corporation | Nokia
The scale is not trivial. Virgin Media O2 said its combined Nokia and Ericsson agreements are worth hundreds of millions of pounds and sit inside a further 700 million-pound investment in its mobile network in 2026, as data traffic keeps rising. The operator said traffic has more than doubled over the past five years and that its next-generation 5G network now reaches 87% of the UK population. Virgin Media O2
But Nokia did not win the largest slice. Ericsson said it would become Virgin Media O2’s primary RAN partner, power the majority of the operator’s radio network and earn several hundred million euros over five years, suggesting Nokia secured only part of the spending on the UK project. ericsson.com
Even so, the timing helps Nokia. In January the company guided for 2026 comparable operating profit of 2 billion to 2.5 billion euros, and Hotard said it was seeing “strong demand trends” in Network Infrastructure as AI and cloud customers drove order intake in optical and IP networks. Nokia Corporation | Nokia
That strategy has been in focus since Nokia recruited Hotard from Intel. Reuters reported in February that investors saw his data-centre and AI background as a sign of where the company wanted to lean after a stretch of uneven 5G demand and contract losses. Reuters
There are still clear risks. Nokia warned in January that U.S. tariffs and a weaker dollar could hurt margins, and the company’s own risk list flags high competitive intensity and swings in customer network investment as threats to its 2026 outlook. Reuters
That leaves little room for a slow payoff. Next week’s annual meeting in Helsinki and the April 23 earnings report should show whether March’s UK contract win can do more than lift sentiment in a market where Ericsson took the bigger share of the same rollout. Nokia Corporation | Nokia
